Why I keep a “Done” list

For a while now, outside my default to-do list, I’ve been keeping a “Done” list. At the end of the day, I sit down and reflect on my day, writing a summary of all that I accomplished: from meetings that I had, to small personal things, like making some progress in learning German. Even if it feels small, but I crossed it off some list — be it a work item or a step in my personal development — it goes on a “Done” list.

Why do I do that, you ask? Well, for a lot of time I had this feeling that even though I spent so much time being “busy”, I didn’t accomplish much at the end of the day. Sitting down and writing a “Done” list helps me reflect on what I actually accomplished today, this week or this month. This helps me feel more accomplished, more productive and fight back when the imposter syndrome kicks in — you know, in a “Hey, I actually did a bunch of stuff, shut up, brain.”

So if you’re having issues with not feeling productive, I can highly recommend creating a daily summary of all you’ve done. Include everything that you made or what made you a better human than yesterday: from work to personal stuff. It’s a very powerful tool.